It Starts With A Motorbike, You Know - A DLTD fanfiction
by RapunzelInTheSnow
Summary: Tamworth has two new students, one who is just starting there. This is the story of the McKenzie twins, Callum and Ed (a girl) and a sort of expansion on Tamworth. Damn those scummy Griffins!
1. The Brat Has Arrived

There was a new girl at Tamworth, who was the sister of the other new student, but had only now started school as opposed to her brother who had been a student now for a good month. It was her first day, and her brother, Callum, was depressed in the corner. Many people asked him what was wrong, but received a saddening noise only in response, or a wince, while his friends exchanged worried glances.

Cameron knew the guy through Callum once trying out for the team, but aside from that, he knew next to nothing about the McKenzie brood - Callum was always polite and the girls said he was shy and sweet - a few of them fancied him, apparently.

This state of ignorance changed when a motorbike roared up, a helmeted and leathered figure on it, which raced up to the nearest space it could park and took the helmet off. A messy head emerged, blinking and then a slow grin spread across this person's face. The crowd of students were frozen - who was this delinquent? Didn't they know about the rules concerning motorbikes? And this motorbike was a big one, reminding one of the younger students of a storybook monster thThey had a backpack on over the leathers and they walked up through the school, slamming open a locker and tossing the helmet in there, and shedding the leather biker jacket and trousers to reveal the female version of the school uniform (albeit with trousers) and producing a pair of school flats in exchange for the big boots, which with a bit of effort the girl managed to stuff in the locker.

A girl whispered to her friend under her breath and got a glare, before Duncan, who was rumoured to have broken someone's nose in his first week at Tamworth, wandered casually over and slapped the back of the new girl's head.

"Hey, brat. You got helmet hair," he announced loudly.

The girl grinned like a wolf. "Hey, Duncan. You got hickeys." She fluffed her hair until it fell into a somewhat normal state, whereas Duncan merely went completely red, slapping a hand over the...bruise...on his neck.

"You are such a damn wimp over that. Be proud, let your sloppy make-out bruisings show!" She cackled and turned about, before squealing suddenly and bounding over to Callum.

"Calleeeeeee!" She hugged him tightly and he sighed, putting up with it and gently hugging her back.

"You are such a..." He trailed off and sighed again. She snickered.

Cameron blinked. That was Callum's sister? No way - they didn't even look alike apart from the same thick, dark and wavy hair. And Callum was always...so quiet.

Pulling out his phone, he began to text Dafydd.

...

"This is Elisabetha McKenzie, everyone," the English teacher said, and the girl held up a hand.

"I prefer to be known as Ed. It sits better with me then Elisabetha." She grinned and the teacher raised an eyebrow before sighing.

"Ed McKenzie, then. Ed, please go sit next to Lionel."

Lionel was a grumpy kid with a habit of ignoring everyone, which seemed to sit well with Ed as she doodled in her notebook. She shot glances over to Duncan every now and then, who was sat next to Callum, and a grin lit up her face.

"Can anyone tell me what this might mean?" the teacher asked, having read a poem out - something about a girl soldier.

"It's about suicide in the face of a future war," Lionel said, finally speaking. The teacher smiled, relieved that at least one student appeared interested - unlike the Hackett boy who was sulkily sitting on the left side of the room.

"Well done, Lionel - _Yes_, Miss McKenzie?"

Ed had raised her hand, causing a sniff of derision from both Lionel and a certain Walter Hackett, both of which she ignored. 

"Is it not also about what a war can cause, and possible PTSD?" she asked, and the teacher blinked.

"I suppose it could be, but poetry is about causing interpretation, after all."

Lionel frowned, before raising his hand. "So both of these are subjects that we could discuss should this poem arise in our exams?" he asked, and the teacher nodded. Ed grinned at Duncan who grinned back.

Lionel frowned thoughtfully. She and Duncan appeared to be close...Perhaps they were 'into' each other? His attention was brought back by another question about the poem.

...

In the next lesson (Mathematics), the Headmaster stormed in, fuming. "Miss McKenzie, a word, please!" he said loudly, glaring at the girl who suddenly looked as though butter would not feel one hint of warmth in her mouth. The glare didn't lessen.

Duncan blinked in astonishment. "Ed, you've been here for two or so hours. What the hell did you do in that short time?" he whispered, and Ed shrugged.

"Hell if I know," she mouthed before standing and following the teacher outside.

Miss Davinson sighed. "Well, if we could continue with simplification within algebra-"

"RIDING A MOTORCYCLE LIKE A COMMON THUG INTO OUR HALLOWED GROUNDS!"

"-gather up the symbols such as 2a and 3a and add them together-"

"WHAT IN CHRISTENDOM WERE YOU THINKING?!"

"-and the numbers as well. You should now be able to simplify the equation down-"

"YOU WILL BE USING YOUR TIME TO CLEAN THE STATUE AS OF NOW! AFTER SCHOOL, WITH THE OTHER DELINQUENTS!"

"-so please complete the worksheet...Ah, Miss McKenzie, welcome back to the classroom!"

Ed slumped grumpily in her chair, and Duncan snickered, causing her to raise her head and look at him.

"Must of reminded you of when your mom saw you'd bought that monstrosity of yours," he whispered in an offhand manner, snickering.

"Shut up, Duncan!" she hissed, blushing an angry pink before concentrating on the worksheet fiercely. Miss Davinson coughed.

"Please refrain from talking like that in my lesson, Miss McKenzie." She lowered her glasses to glare and Ed frowned and concentrated more on the worksheet, while Duncan cracked up beside her, until he was snorting loudly. The glare shifted to him.

"A joke that you would like to share, Mr Reese?"

The snorting trailed off, and Duncan shook his head frantically, to which the teacher smiled a dangerous smile, a shark's smile.

"Well, I hope you reflect on this when you are cleaning the statue alongside Miss McKenzie. Perhaps you two can laugh together?"

Ed grinned at Duncan who held a finger up. "Not one word, brat. Not. One. Word."

* * *

The poem in the English class is Come on, Come Back by Stevie Smith.


	2. Of Buckets and Gold Paint

Tamworth Academy. A school of glistening potential, a strict moral code, and students who are taught to become the next generation of power. Its peaceful grounds are set off by a centaur statue that shows off its mascot and symbol that is easily recognised and must be kept pristine.

The trouble was, Warwick Academy and Tamworth had a history of vandalising each others' statues. Perpetrators had almost been caught this time, but today found a certain McKenzie girl and Duncan Reece scrubbing at the statue alongside the other delinquents.

"This sucks!" Duncan grumbled and Ed snorted without any humour.

"Preaching to the Cinderella choir here, sister." She looked a little harder.

"Is that seriously a golden dick? What sort of closeted homophobe would draw a giant golden dick on the ass of a centaur?" she pondered and Duncan grimaced.

"That is gross."

Ed scrubbed at the gold paint, sighing. "Be grateful you got to scrub lipstick off its mouth."

A sigh came from between them. "Well, some bright spark wrote something that on a keypad would spell 'GAY CENTAUR'. I checked it on the keypad. And Belieber, which is frankly tarnishing the good name of Tamworth. Nobody in the UK really likes Justin Bieber unless they've been brainwashed." This kid had a gloomy countenance. His name was David Crossley, and he had been caught putting salt into the teacher's lounge sugar pot.

Duncan grinned. "Ed, meet Dave, Dave, meet the brat."

"I would shake your hand, but mine is covered in _gold dick paint_," Ed added, causing David to smile a little and Duncan to make a face at her.

"Who's got the glue remover?" he asked a while later, and someone chucked it at his head. Duncan picked it up, rubbing his head with a glare but managing to remove the bow from the centaur's head.

Dave sighed. "Sanding paper?"

This too was chucked.

The boy throwing these things was one of the real delinquents - a boy by the name of Terry Shrew. He was small and rather whiny, but he knew a few things about people that those people didn't want to become public knowledge. However, he had been caught in a fistfight with another student and so was put in charge of cleaning supplies for those actually fixing the statue.

"Well, little ray of sunshine," Ed said in a sweet tone, teeth on show as she grinned."Know what you should do?"

"What?" Terry asked, glaring at this stupid girl who simply bared her teeth.

"Think fast!"

A bucket of dirty water hit the boy, upending on his head and soaking him completely. Understandably, he screamed and fell backwards. Everyone laughed at seeing him covered in muddy gold and blue water, that probably had ruined the shirt he was wearing. The bucket was thrown from his head and he glared at Ed.

"You...You utter cow!"

She laughed lightly. "So said the pot unto the kettle, Daisy."

Terry chucked a sponge at her and she dodged it as much as was possible, getting caught by it slightly and sighing.

"Idiot." She brushed the water off her face as much as she could, before picking up the sponge and continuing to scrub at the gold paint. "I swear though, I will hunt down whoever did this."

One of the boys blinked. "We could always get their statue back, couldn't we?"

Ed grinned. "They have a statue?" she asked in an innocent tone of voice, which had Duncan looking at her suspiciously.

"Yeah, this bloody obnoxious griffin. It's difficult to get."

A slow grin spread across her face. "Thankfully, I have a plan in mind..." she said quietly, and Duncan sighed.

"Are you planning to do what I think you're planning to do?"

She hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe. I'll talk it over with you later - don't tell Callum, though, he'd do his nut."

Duncan continued to scrub and sand away obscenities that had been written in permanent marker. "If it gets out of hand, I'm ratting you out."

She frowned and stuck her tongue out at him. David sniggered and she grinned at him.

"Oi, McKenzie," one of the lads said loudly and she turned. "Want to know a fun tradition we have after cleaning the statue?"

...

Ed was giggling, covering her mouth with her hand as the group of 'delinquents' moved forward, carrying the biggest bucket between them. Dirty water sloshed over the sides as they did so, moving forwards until they stood underneath the headmaster's window, a few feet away from the wall. Faint voices could be heard from inside, and all the teenagers looked to be oddly happy as they swung the bucket.

"We have to make the bucket fall back, it's a precise science. One year these dudes broke the window and had to pay for a new one as well as receiving a week of detentions. Not fun," the one who appeared to be the ringleader explained. Ed grinned, which the boy took as a signal to demonstrate.

"Okay! On three!" the boy shouted, and they began to heave the bucket into a gentle motion, moving backwards to give it more momentum and getting splashed by the dirty water themselves.

"One! Two! Three!"

The water sailed from the bucket, splattering the window as the metal fell back down with a clunk. There was a shout of rage and the entire group began to run, howling with laughter at the sight of their chaos. Ed split off towards the doors of the school, running through and heading to her locker. Grabbing her stuff she dived into the girls' bathroom and emerged in her biker gear, racing towards the car park and starting her bike up, making sure she was balanced. Duncan ran up at that moment.

"I'll see you later, okay, brat?" he said, and she nodded, pulling on her helmet. She roared away, and David ran past Duncan.

"Guards are on their way! Move it! Every man for himself!" he yelped at high speed and Duncan took off like a rabbit, his heart hammering in his chest with the adrenalin.

...

Ed pulled into the garage and clambered off the bike, turning around to see her mother tapping her foot.

"I told you not to take that thing to school, Elisa."

Ed looked mortified. "Moooooooom, no. You know I hate being called that!" she whined and her mother fixed her with a look.

"As much as I hate receiving calls from school? As much as I hate being told my daughter is acting like a delinquent?"

"Mom, motorcycling does not equal delinquency!" she groaned, tugging off the leather trousers and cycling boots. Her mother tutted.

"Look at the state of your shirt! And your hair - just go change, Ed. Please."

Ed trudged grumpily into the house, stomping upstairs.

"Are you done with the statue?" Callum called from his room and she slammed the door of her own room as she walked in, flinging herself on the bed and grumbling into her pillow before her phone pinged. She blinked before looking at the text, and put the phone down.

Honestly, all this fuss over such a beautiful thing as her motorbike was. It was ridiculous.

"Hey, Callum?" she called through the wall. "Why didn't you talk to me today? Or Duncan, for that matter?"

She heard him pad out of his room and her door opened.

"I was at the gardening club after first period, and I'm not in a lot of your classes anyway. And I was kind of avoiding Nora."

Nora Tolley was one of the more forward girls who fancied Callum, and was always trying to coax him to go on a date with her or get his number. Ed had seen her today, looking frantically around and complaining loudly.

"Tried telling her about your boyfriend?" Ed asked in amusement.

"No. I don't want to upset her..." Callum fidgeted and Ed sighed. The bad thing about Callum was that he wasn't very good with putting himself first, aside from hiding from the girls at school.

"Well, do you want me to pull the loving protective sister thing or prank her? Cause these are kinda your options...I could dye her hair..." She made sure to look serious and watched in amusement as her brother's face paled.

"No!" Callum shrieked, "I'll talk to Nora...I'll say I have stuff after school for a while..."

Ed snickered. "You do that, honey."


	3. You Can't Do 'Called It' For My Brother

The sun was shining down upon Tamworth Academy, one of the best schools in England and rival of Warwick (some of its students had transferred from there after certain incidents) and the corner of the ivy-covered Art Building where a group of 'delinquents' were now playing cards - or more accurately, playing Go Fish. The person who won would receive a packet of Wine Gums - a serious prize. The boys had sort of adopted Ed from respect (and because she had a damn cool motorbike).

"Ed, d'you have any threes?" asked David, and she snorted, handing one over before looking up and grinning.

"Hold the game, gentlemen. I see a brother of mine."

Indeed, a certain Callum McKenzie appeared to be talking to the girl we were introduced to before - one Nora Tolley, who seemed to be kicking off slightly. Callum held up his hands and she scrubbed at her eyes, looking up at him before he said something, covering his mouth afterwards. She looked shocked and then started to yell at him, causing him to yell back. The group was too far away to hear what was being said, fortunately, but the gist appeared to be that Nora disagreed with something that the McKenzie lad had said.

"Bet you a tenner he insulted her," David said and Ed grinned in the wolfish manner she had. The others sensibly moved back, not wishing to partake in a bet that Ed would most likely win - it was about her brother, after all, so she should know the most about it.

"You're on, I bet he told her about his relationship."

David scoffed, "He isn't going out with any of the girls...So I take your bet!" A grin was his only answer.

Ed watched as Nora stormed off and waved Callum over. The boy looked rather upset.

"Um...it may have slipped out about my boyfriend..." he said quietly and Ed made a little sound of satisfaction, taking the tenner offered to her by David and getting up to hug her brother as he shifted. He glared at the tenner before the miserable expression took over his face again.

"That's cool, but what did she say to bring you down? Want me to go get her for you, avenge your honour?" Ed asked cheerfully.

"Nah...She doesn't know who it is, anyway...She said I was leading her on and that she thought I could have handled it better and not hurt her feelings."

"That's stupid - she doesn't have feelings. She's got instincts 'cause she's an octopus. All clingy and slimy."

Ed's brand of 'cheering up' was unique, really, as it was coaxing, sometimes threatening and definitely with limited use of common sense. But at least she tried, and it was usually this fact that brought the smile back to her brother's face.

"She's not an octopus...She just got a bit too attached," he protested, while the boys being Ed sniggered.

"Like an octopus with barbed suckers," Ed offered and her brother shook his head sadly.

"Wait - you're gay?" David asked and Callum nodded. A few of the delinquents began passing money around, and Ed sighed in frustration.

"No. Bad. You lot can't do the 'called it' thing about my brother. Only I can." The boys stuck their tongues out in unison, kicking each other a little.

Callum waved his hand despondently. "It's alright...I'm in a relationship so they needn't worry either," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but Terry would be awful to you about it, you know," David said and Ed suddenly straightened up. Of course. Terry was the one person who could turn this situation into a very very bad one.

"Nora won't tell, will she?"

Callum shook his head. "She'd be too afraid of it backfiring on her," he pointed out and Ed turned to them.

"If Terry gets wind of what happened, I will kick your asses. Agreed?"

"We wouldn't tell him anyway," a boy called Josh pointed out. "He's a scumbag."

"You better not."

...

At lunch, sitting in the nearly empty 'Rec Area' on one of the benches, Cameron was texting Dafydd under the table when he felt pressure on his shoulder. Two hands were resting there - Ed McKenzie's.

"You know Dafydd Blake?" she asked, blinking in surprise.

Cameron blushed."He's my boyfriend...Wait, how do you know him?" he asked and she grinned.

"Reputation, of course...Oh, my friend attends Warwick, so he has heard of him and he brought it up in conversation. Not like I know him personally, don't worry. Small world though, huh?" She took her hands off his shoulder and started to walk away, whistling.

Cameron sighed, finding this extremely odd. Normal people don't just walk up and read your texts...He messaged Dafydd about it, wondering whether Ed, well, knew.

...

"Warwick actually gets our lot killed from time to time, I'm sure of it," Sean (one of the delinquents) was telling Ed. "Connor - he was a sexist prick, but still - got murdered on one of the trips and they only ever found his foot. That's what they say, anyhow, but the teachers just say he's still missing. Load of bull, if you ask me."

Ed blinked, unsure whether to believe this or not. A lot of Tamworth's urban legends had been thrown at her by the delinquents, but this one sounded like the truth. She considered it for five minutes.

"I don't think they killed him, though," she said finally, somewhat distantly. Sean looked at her, surprised before grinning.

"Nah, they're too proper and wussy to attempt murder," he sneered.

It was then that he noticed Ed looking into the distance, worrying at her lip. Her gaze was focused on a teacher who was yelling at a student - a small girl with a frown on her face who appeared to be arguing back.

"Who's the girl?" she asked slowly, her eyes never once leaving this person's face.

Sean squinted, and shrugged. "I think she's called Sophie - she transferred today."

Ed blinked, stood up and started to walk over. The girl looked over as well, running to hug Ed, who didn't hug back but instead looked down at her in displeasure.

"Fancy meeting you here...Why didn't you tell me you were on your way?" Ed asked, and the girl began chattering at a high speed until the teacher stormed over. Ed held a hand up.

"Sir, this is my...cousin. What happened?"

Sean frowned. It was quite obvious to him that Sophie was not Ed's cousin - so what exactly was going on?

"She bit another student!" he said and Ed sighed.

"My cousin is easily frightened, she suffers from Aspergers' and a certain paranoia. Please excuse the incident." Sophie looked up with limpid eyes, tears threatening to spill over.

Ed looked down at her in an angry manner before smiling as the teacher walked away, saying something about arranging a meeting with the headmaster and Ed's mother about the incident.

"Come on, Sophie, come sit with me for a while." She bent down so the other girl cold climb on her back.

The girl scrabbled for a bit before settling and Ed carried her over, glaring at her a little.

Sean watched this with a frown before Ed brought Sophie and plopped her next to him.

"Watch her, would you?" She seemed rather fed up as she wandered off, and Sophie wriggled in her seat, grinning widely in a way that showed off her teeth. Sean looked sideways.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with this girl?" he muttered. Sophie looked up with a glint in her eye.

"Tag."


	4. Who Is The Dagda?

Callum was sitting next to Duncan, chatting and smiling, when he saw Ed rushing over.

"Callum, the puppy turned up! Mum must have enrolled her, dear Dagda above!" Ed seemed to be fuming and Callum quickly stood up to grab her shoulder.

"Sophie's here? What the hell is she doing here?" he asked, looking over to see Sophie apparently playing Tag with Sean, who looked very bewildered.

"What's a Dagda?" Duncan asked out of interest, but was ignored by both. He sighed. So it was one of these things, where he would be ignored for a small while.

"She wasn't meant to be outside the house! She's just a baby, what was Mum thinking? That it would somehow be a good experience?" Ed calmed down after Callum squeezed her hand a little forcefully, but rubbed the space between her eyebrows in a stressed manner.

"She's just too much to handle for you. Hopefully she's been enrolled in one of the part time attendance spots, for the kids who've been home-schooled? Or tutored?" Callum suggested.

Whipping out her phone, Ed began to text quickly and a few moments later the green phone pinged.

"Yup. She says we need to watch out for her for obvious reasons." Duncan grinned. It was a Tooth thing, then.

The thing about the McKenzie twins that I have yet to tell you is that they are known as the Tooth Fairies by a select few, due to their being descended from Lugh, a member of the Tuatha De Dunnan, who had at one point taken a few wives among the Sidhe. One of them would bear a child who would be the ancestor of the McKenzie brood. In essence this means they are part faerie.

The trouble was, they had been lumped with Sophie by a noblewoman of the Sidhe. Sophie was her pet, a dangerous one if left unattended. She was a baby of the Cerberus race, who could manage two forms - one of a small human girl, the other of a three headed dog.

Sophie loved the McKenzies, but when transformed was roughly the size of a St Bernard. In a few hundred years or so she would be house sized. Ed found her very annoying. Almost as annoying as she found the noblewoman who owned her.

Duncan, of course, knew of their race because of a reason which shall be revealed later, but that at this moment shall remain a secret. However, he knew very little of their culture - the Dagda is otherwise known as the Good God, the light who watches over them.

Their nature - and Sophie's as well - were things that needed to be kept a secret from the normal students of Tamworth. Sophie made that difficult as she was, in all honesty, a dog in human form. But to all intents and purposes, the McKenzies had been raised as human, and as such did not fully have the need to be entertained all the time as many of the Fair Folk do - as such entertainment usually came from the Hunt or pets, or games played with living beings as the pieces. When they matured they had the possibility of becoming such beings, which was scary for them, as it was a sort of delayed psychopathy. Their whole way of thinking would change, possibly.

But this was not the time to go on about that - my apologies, reader. It seems I was getting carried away with practicalities again.

Cameron was at that moment texting Dafydd, asking him if he knew anyone who had friends at Tamworth. Dafydd had assured him that he would ask around, but so far as he knew it was only the Seven who knew Cameron. Slipping his phone back in his pocket, he glanced over to the panicking Ed, frowning. He would have asked what was wrong, but found himself somewhat creeped out by the girl. She had after all punched one of her new found friends because he admitted to bullying someone who had since left the school - saying that some people cannot control their mindset and should not therefore be judged. The boy who had been punched still had a great big bruise surrounding his left eye.

At that moment, Sophie barrelled into him, knocking him flat, and running off it hour apologising. Callum, however, looked horrified.

"Gully! Sorry about...about Sophie..." he called as he ran over, helping Cameron up. Ed merely snorted and Duncan ignored it, before Sophie ran past them, knocking Ed to the ground. Ed immediately sprang back up.

"Oh, that shit just isn't on..." she growled loudly, causing Duncan to cackle at the swearing as she suddenly raced forward.

"SOPHIE, I'M GOING TO PUT A LEASH UPON YOUR SORRY NECK!" she screeched loudly, bounding forward. The smaller girl yelped in excitement and sped up, running this way and that with Ed in hot pursuit, while Cameron watched in bewilderment, and Callum face palmed.

"Oh dear, there they go...again..." he muttered, and Cameron decided to step in by moving into Sophie's path and hoisting her over one shoulder as she ran close enough. She wriggled and laughed, and Ed raced over, apparently not worn out by all that running.

"Thanks, Cameron," she said, and motioned that he should let Sophie down. He did so and Ed collared her.

"So what was that all about? Did you make Sean play tag, you disgraceful creature?" she asked, and Sophie grinned. Ed sighed.

"It's near enough time for lunch...Let's get you something to eat..." she said and Sophie began resolutely marching forward, dragging Ed behind her.

...

"I have never seen someone so small eat so much," David said in a dazed manner as Sophie swallowed the last of her food.

"You should see her at Christmas, it's hell on a dinner plate," Callum told him, and Sophie burped, cackling. Ed shot her a look of despair, which Sean found funny - Ed was acting like an older sibling or some such, while Sophie was acting like a rebellious child of some sort. David, meanwhile, was trying to imagine Christmas, but all he could see in his mind's eye was Sophie holding a giant turkey aloft like a trophy along with a cauldron of cranberry sauce. He shuddered.

"So, what should we do about that stupid dirty griffin statue?" Sean asked, and Ed grinned suddenly, her face lit up. Callum sighed and David chuckled.

"We contact the princess, of course - and we use a little cunning..." She whipped out her phone and began texting.

In Warwick, a slim figure was sat in the common room when their phone gave a ring, something that sounded like a pop song. They giggled, swiping and starting to text back. Another figure next to them tried to look at their phone and they quickly scooted over, shaking their head. This figure was similar to them, but had more visible muscles.

"So, who's your contact? Your mole?" Harry, one of the taller delinquents frowned as Ed shook her head with a wider, more feral grin.

"That's for me to know, and you to never, ever find out unless you're going to be nice to them - which seeing as you don't like anyone from Warwick, I rather think you won't. Anyway, it's going to be me, Duncan, David, Callum and Sophie doing this, not you. Less chance of getting caught! But I need to bounce ideas off and get supplies from you." Retrieving her notepad, she began to sketch a square.

"So vaguely, this is Warwick's grounds, yes?"

One of the delinquents, Paul, snagged the pencil. "Not quite." She handed him the notepad and waited for a while, Sophie sneaking under the table and snickering until Ed prodded her with a shoe.

"Here, these are the grounds. I can probably download some blueprints for the grounds, but those are roughly what you need - the griffin statue should be here. Really, the twelfth years should be doing this, but they won't object after we couldn't stand up to Warwick last time - apparently there were only seven kids. If we get them back with five, three of which are new kids, it should be extremely wounding. Scummy griffins deserve it." He sniggered and Ed cackled loudly.

"I'm going to need spray paint, silly string, gum, super glue, and as many pebbles as you can find!" she declared, and several moved off to fetch these supplies for her. Callum eyed her suspiciously.

"What are you planning with those things?" he asked, and she grinned.

"All in good time, brother mine, all in good time..." she said in an attempt to sound wise. Duncan snorted.

"Good, my ass..." he muttered, before a pinch found its way into his side with a glare accompanying it.


	5. You Don't Know the Half of It, Princess

Ed's supplies came back to her in bits and pieces as the boys fetched them, and she was delighted to discover more than enough pebbles for her little project, which she simply would not explain, but started painting the pebbles with something in the school colours - Duncan managed to get a closer look at them, noting they had a beautifully painted Tamworth crest on each one. Callum refused to have anything to do with it until the actual night, and Sophie simply stared with her head tilted to one side before going off to find a delinquent to play tag with.  
When the Mckenzies were leaving for home that afternoon, Duncan was tagging along with them, smiling slightly at Callum, while Ed coaxed Sophie along the road before walking along by herself once she decided Sophie would now walk on her own.  
"You gonna let me eat at your place, Callum?" he asked and the boy blinked before smiling warmly.  
"Sure, but Sophie will be back in dog form when she gets home, so I'd guard your plate." He grinned and Duncan smiled back, before turning to check behind them. Sophie was wandering slowly along, sniffing everything. Falling back slightly, he nudged Ed, sighed, tugging Sophie along by the hand as Duncan went back to walking by Callum.  
Sophie sniffed and pulled, dragging Ed and herself along towards Duncan, before sniffing him and giving a pleased yelp. Ed sighed.  
"He hasn't got food now, you dumb mongrel," she said sharply, flicking Sophie's ear, who gave a small yelp. Ed sighed softly and smacked her hand against her forehead. "I'm not angry with you, just exasperated, Soph." Callum looked across at her, with a knowing expression.  
The baby Cerberus yipped happily and ran along, nearly going into the road several times. No wonder Ed didn't like looking after her, Duncan thought with a small shudder.  
They reached home and their mother was stood there, smiling and waving. She turned and motioned them inside, whereupon a glow surrounded Sophie, who morphed into the form of a dog - a huge, puppy-like creature with three heads, which snapped at each other for a moment before six eyes turned to Ed and the huge creature attempted to rush her, probably trying to hug her or something. Ed yelped and tried to avoid it, only being knocked over and having paws scrabble at her happily. Pink marks appeared on her skin where the paws had been overly enthusiastic, and Ed swore loudly, scowl twisting her features alongside a bit of an odd look in her eyes. Callum laughed, patting Sophie's side as he walked past.  
"Bloody stupid mutt! What do you think you're doing? Huh?" She tried to shove Sophie off, but the baby Cerberus whined, one head nosing at her. Ed sighed.  
"Mom, can you feed her? She's too heavy!"  
Her mother went into their large kitchen, and Duncan chuckled. Caralie McKenzie was one of the nicest people he knew - his mom was a teacher over at Weston, and she was rather strict, while his father was a writer who spent all his time working and being depressed when he couldn't find inspiration. Subsequently, he had not really found a parental figure he liked until he met Caralie, who treated him like an extra child - the only time he had gotten drunk, she was the one who picked him up and dealt with his hangover. She had refused to use magic, saying he had to learn what happened when you drank, and he had a bit more respect for her because of it.  
How the twins came to be, he mused, was actually a rather odd thing. Their father, Ciar, a Sidhe nobleman of both great fame and great infamy, had taken Caralie as his new 'bride'. The union had resulted in the birth of two children - Elisabetha Aisling and Callum Fionn - and Caralie had taken the twins and her husband into the human realm to have a nice life. This story had actually been told to him by Callum, as both twins knew it like the back of their hand. Ciar had begun to grow restless, as he found little entertainment in the human world, but Caralie had refused to move. Ciar had then ditched her and the children, saying that they would become too human and that he would only speak to them when they had reached maturation. As they had only been one at the time, they hardly remembered him at all. By all accounts, their extended family included three half-siblings that they knew of, two of whom maintained the same policy as Ciar, and several odd cousins, some of which sent long letters about what was going on so that their cousins would be up to date when they came to be accepted in the Court. Ciar never sent word nor presents, however, not one sign that he acknowledged them or that he himself even existed, and as such Ed despised him. Callum thought it would one day be nice to meet him, but said he didn't want to make trouble between himself and Ed.  
He sighed, before hearing a loud howl, lifting his head to see Sophie eating an entire steak, growling and worrying it with all three heads. Ed made a face and dashed upstairs with her schoolbags, obviously not intending to come down for a while. Callum laughed under his breath, and Duncan turned as he heard that.  
"What's on with you and Ed? You're not...well, you know, you're not glued at the hip. What happened?"  
It was like he had poured water on fireworks which would have been lovely and sparkly. The light of humour vanished instantly from Callum's eyes.  
"I don't...I don't want to talk about it."  
Duncan was startled. Had the twins fought? What on earth would they fight about so badly? He looked at Callum, before wrapping an arm around him and smiling warmly. Callum didn't smile, but did lean against him with a sigh.  
Sophie chose that moment to leap onto the sofa they had sat down on in her human form, on all fours and with a huge grin, flopped down on their laps. Callum squeaked but patted her head, while Duncan grinned and leant back. Sophie grinned back, before a loud whistle made her jolt and she climbed off the sofa with a whine, looking up with huge sad eyes at Caralie, who shook her head and pointed out into the downstairs spare room, which had both a small bed and a specially tailored dog bed. Sophie slunk through and slammed the door behind her. Caralie leant over the sofa.  
"We have to stop her doing that. She has to be well behaved in court, and we need to get her basically well-trained for that. You both know that."  
Duncan sighed. "But you have two hundred years to do that, or something!"  
Caralie ran a hand through her dark, wavy hair. It wasn't as curly as Callum's or as Ed's, but it was the same shade, and the gesture was one Callum had picked up. "Actually, we don't know when Lady Annalise will want Sophie back. We need to get her at least behaving enough to be trained to behave properly in her human form. At the moment, she at least knows enough on how to behave, but she still can't speak much. She needs to speak a little more by the end of training. I should think it will be at least fifty years. If only Madeline still visited I could be more up to date on how a young woman in the Court might behave." She sighed. "Well, we shall just have to muddle through it at the moment."  
Duncan frowned. "Madeline?"  
"Ciar's middle daughter. She used to visit a lot." Caralie sighed, before smiling brightly. "Anyway, you two want to choose a pizza? I'll pay if one of you goes and asks Ed which one she wants."  
Duncan stood up. "I'll go." Callum shot him a grateful look, which was seen by his mother, who frowned before wandering into the large kitchen and returning a few seconds with a pizza flyer. "Take this up with you."  
He grinned and took the flimsy, colourful piece of paper.

Ed was still painting pebbles when he opened the door to her room. She looked up and snorted.  
"Why, my good sir, didst thou not think to knock upon the entrance to my chambers?" she asked in a high, sweet voice. Her leathers were hung up on the back of the door, which he saw was still covered in various stickers, although most of them were Pokemon stickers.  
"Did your mother not tell you to get rid of thy papery sticky objects?" he replied, bowing. She laughed aloud.  
"God, your Shakespearean sucks, Dun. What's that you got there?" She peered at the pizza flyer, before grinning.  
"I want mushrooms and chicken. No peppers." She then turned back to what she was doing, concentrating on painting the little bits of the arrow and the hind legs of the centaur. Drying pebbles had been set out in orderly lines, and Ed's fingers were covered in paint. Each pebble was absolutely beautifully painted, but Ed always had been a bit of an artist. Caralie told him that many elves among the Sidhe had natural artistic skill, and that he shouldn't make a big deal of it, as it didn't matter - besides, Ed still sucked at Math and ICT. He still thought Ed should try painting professionally, but she had just laughed when he'd suggested it. Apparently she was just a kid doodling by elvish standards.  
Once again, he shook himself from his thoughts. "What exactly is your plan, anyway?" he asked, moving to pick up a pebble. Ed smacked his hand away.  
"You'll just have to wait and see, like the others. It's not so much for look as for the labour the cleaning will take. I do hold a little bit of a grudge." She grinned at him, and shooed him towards the door. He sighed, wandering down the stairs. As he had thought, Ed was ignoring whatever fight she had had with Callum, which meant it had been pretty bad. Otherwise Ed would simply be swearing at her brother until she deemed it forgivable. Nice Ed who didn't acknowledge Callum was not an inwardly happy Ed.  
Caralie looked up as he walked into the living room. "So?"  
"Chicken and mushroom. No peppers." He sat himself down and looked at Callum.  
"I'll find out what this is about, you know. Always do."  
Callum stared before his face went blank. "I still won't tell you."  
He sighed, leaning against Callum. Well, he certainly wouldn't pursue it now. Not with Callum anyway.

Ed's phone beeped in her room, before a song sounding suspiciously like Pon Pon Pon played out into the otherwise quiet air. She answered it with a sigh.  
"Hey."  
The voice at the other end spoke, and she listened with a frown.  
"You're sure he's going to be concentrating on other things?"  
Again the voice spoke, and this time at length. Ed began taking notes on a spare notebook nearby.  
"Slow down, I sent you the details, didn't I? It's possible if you set up your half over there. We will literally be done within seconds. I know what I'm doing. We just have to keep both of our brothers occupied."  
She sighed. "Yes, I'll help you pick out a dress for that bloody dance. And I have to go to, so I need your advice. Callum's still on about that. It's alright for you, you don't go through maturation. Unseelie blood doesn't, and neither does pure blood. I have the slightest drop of human and this is going to happen. It sucks."  
She sighed as babbling began down the other end. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Marry a pure blood or have a romance or whatever, and you don't go through it. I'm not whoring myself out for anyone. Besides, both of you are in cute relationships. You don't have to..." She trailed off and sighed.  
"I'll meet you for coffee afterwards, okay? I don't want Dun or Cal to hear me. Bye, princess..."  
She set the phone down, breathing out heavily with a somewhat melancholy expression.


End file.
